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Abba Skylift


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I was asked on my project Blackbird thread about the Abba Skylift as I had dug deep and shelled out the necessary to buy one.  Please see the below:

 

It's very strong and well made, the lift itself is completely stable and so far I can't see any way to make it fall over, there are three lower legs on castors that spread the load with a 4th castor on the upright, 2 of the castors are braked.  There is a little movement of the bike possible if you push on the bike when the brakes are applied to the stand, I'm not sure that's something that could be designed out without much more expensive materials and bigger box sections.  The hydraulic ram is rated for 3 tons, the lift itself has a stated SWL of 400KG so well within limits, once you've lifted the bike into position there's a locking pin that is used to hold the bike at height and the ram is released.  I can push the bike around the garage safely on the lift, the only downside I have seen is that I can't lift the bike if it's already up on the centre stand as the central leg of the lift needs to be where the centre stand is.  No issue with it being on the side stand. 

 

In my case this skylift has paid for itself just by allowing me to do this build myself, had I not bought the lift then I would have spent way more than that on getting the work done at a garage.  If I'd had the space I could have bought a table instead that would likely have been cheaper, but then I'd still have needed to do a whole load of additional work to allow me to secure the bike in a safe manner to remove the front wheel and forks.  I've had the bike in the level position on the skylift and have plenty of room to completely strip the front end.  If I needed more room around the front, I could put the bike in the wheelie position so the whole front is in the air.  There is also the option of the stoppie position if you need additional access to the rear.

 

My biggest concern was whether there would be enough access to the left hand side of the bike while it was on the stand, I needn't have worried.  There is plenty of room to get to everything on the left whilst the bike is on the stand.  With all the additional bits I bought I spent £580 on the skylift, it's money well spent, I can also remove the swingarm if needed as I bought the footpeg kit to allow it.  I'm seriously considering buying the technician kit that contains all of the additional fixings for other bikes so that if I change in the future I have the gear ready, it's £148, but once again, money well spent to futureproof I feel. 

 

Finally, their customer service is excellent, I'm really happy with everything, especially the 3 year warranty they give (the ram is not included as they buy those in so it only gets 12 months), to me that shows a real commitment to the quality of their own products.  I actually met a few of the guys many years ago at the bike show, it was the launch of the skylift and at the time they didn't have a fitting kit for my bike, even then though, they were really helpful even though they knew I wouldn't be buying at that point.

Edited by JaBr
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